TAKING a rare break from the new series of his comedy sketch show, Lenny Henry grins as he admits he has finally mastered the subtle art of delegation.

"What's been fantastic is letting other people have a go rather than me doing everything all the time. I've spread it around a bit this time and I think there's loads more variation in the characters."

Lenny, 45, has even allowed comedienne Dawn French, his wife of almost 20 years, to lend a hand with a couple of his outrageous creations for The Lenny Henry Show.

"Dawn is really astute and she'll often come up with a character or new way into something. She'll say, `You know what you should do, Len?' And it's always a good idea, so I tend to listen to her, because she's very smart, my wife."

Lenny remembers that Dawn initially had very definite opinions about his unique comedy style when he first met her during the early eighties.

"Comedy is subjective and everybody has got their own taste so you're sort of in an impossible situation, anyway, because you can't please everyone," he explains.

"Dawn had quite a lot to say about the stuff I'd do on stage back then, but after a while she realised that I could look after myself."

Painstakingly built up over the years, Lenny's well-stocked stable of comedy characters - much like their hard-working creator - are constantly adapting to the cut-throat world of comedy upon which they depend for their very survival.

"There's a topical edge to it and we're doing the jokes that are current, such as that hilarious kid yawning during the George Bush speech the other day.

"I'd definitely have wanted to do something with that - it was just classic! There's a great character called New Stepdad who was inspired by the fact that quite a few of mine and Dawn's mates have split up or are divorced and on to their second family.

"I think that one of the hardest things to do is be the new guy who comes in and has to take over where the old dad left off."

Lenny is also trying his hand at branching out into writing more relevant, politically skewed sketches. "With the situation in Iraq at the moment it feels like the right time to be doing a soldier character, and so we're doing this private called Daniel who sends a video diary from Baghdad each week.

"It's not only political, it's also about what it must be like for a soldier who is taking part in one of the most significant moments that the world has seen. but what he really wants to know about is what his girlfriend is doing or how his mum and dad are. It's the mundane things that make it real."

And it is these many hidden intricacies of character and personality that Lenny has been studying during the fourth year of his Open University degree in English Literature, a subject he chose to brush up both his observational and TV directing skills.

"It's all about small observations and if they come off then they really work. It's very much in the tradition of League Of Gentlemen, The Office, Smack The Pony, or Alan Partridge.

"We're doing less of the silly costumes and situations now, as I think that people are more interested in characters like them. I'm still a work in progress, I'm still learning."

Lenny also loves the idea of taking on some more serious roles after playing the part of a headmaster in BBC1's Hope And Glory, as well as doing more live stand-up with his stage show, So Much Things To Say.

"I'm working with the BBC at the moment, developing dramas," he reveals. There's also talk of a one-off film and a starring role in a sitcom.